{"id":28388,"date":"2019-01-09T03:24:24","date_gmt":"2019-01-09T03:24:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=28388"},"modified":"2019-01-09T03:24:24","modified_gmt":"2019-01-09T03:24:24","slug":"sudan-town-holds-rally-for-martyrs-killed-in-protests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=28388","title":{"rendered":"Sudan town holds rally for \u2018martyrs\u2019 killed in protests"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\nKHARTOUM: Hundreds of protesters on Tuesday staged a \u201cmartyrs\u2019 rally\u201d in an eastern Sudanese town to honor those killed in anti-government protests last month, witnesses said.<\/p>\n

\nDeadly protests have rocked Sudan since December 19, when unrest broke out over the price of bread.<\/p>\n

\nAuthorities say at least 19 people including two security personnel have been killed during the demonstrations, but rights groups say around 40 people have died.<\/p>\n

\nSix people were killed in Al-Gadaref, an impoverished agricultural town in eastern Sudan.<\/p>\n

\nOn Tuesday, protesters staged what organizers said was a \u201cmartyrs\u2019 rally\u201d to mark the deaths in Al-Gadaref.<\/p>\n

\nThe main market was shut as demonstrators gathered in the downtown area, chanting slogans such as \u201cPeace, justice, freedom\u201d and \u201cRevolution is the choice of the people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nDemonstrators were confronted by riot police who fired tear gas as protesters prepared to march to the provincial council building, witnesses said.<\/p>\n

\nGroups of protesters managed to reach the compound of the council building and one of their representatives read out a petition calling for President Omar Al-Bashir to resign, one witness told AFP by telephone on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n

\nThe protest was organized by the Sudanese Professionals\u2019 Association, a group of teachers, doctors and engineers that has spearheaded the ongoing anti-government demonstrations across the country.<\/p>\n

\nSudanese authorities could not be reached to comment on the rally.<\/p>\n

\nAuthorities have launched a crackdown on opposition leaders, activists and journalists to prevent the spread of protests.<\/p>\n

\nMore than 800 protesters have been arrested across Sudan since the unrest began, Interior Minister Ahmed Bilal Osman said Monday while describing the current situation as \u201ccalm and stable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nSources said that 118 buildings were destroyed in the protests, including 18 that belonged to police, while 194 vehicles were set on fire including 15 that belonged to international organizations.<\/p>\n

\nSeveral buildings and offices of Bashir\u2019s ruling National Congress Party (NCP) were torched in the initial violence.<\/p>\n

\nBashir, who has ruled Sudan since 1989, told police last month to use \u201cless force\u201d in their response to demonstrators.<\/p>\n

\nProtests broke out when the government raised the price of a small loaf of bread from 1 Sudanese pound to 3 (from 2 to 6 US cents).<\/p>\n

\nSudan has been facing a mounting economic crisis over the past year, led by an acute shortage of foreign currency.<\/p>\n

\nFood and fuel shortages have been regularly reported across several cities, including the capital Khartoum, while the cost of food and medicine has more than doubled and inflation has hit 70 percent.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KHARTOUM: Hundreds of protesters on Tuesday staged a \u201cmartyrs\u2019 rally\u201d in an eastern Sudanese town to honor those killed in anti-government protests last month, witnesses said. Deadly protests have rocked Sudan since December 19, when unrest broke out over the price of bread. Authorities say at least 19 people including two security personnel have been…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":28389,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28388\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}